The sense of deflation was apparent. All Brad Keselowski thought he needed was a teammate up front in the closing laps of Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway.
Keselowski was in position to be the next driver far below the playoff elimination line to clinch a playoff spot via a victory. Instead, Chase Elliott saved the bubble drivers on the final lap.
With the laps winding down, Keselowski and his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher were committed to one another and controlled the race. In an event where a chunk of pre-race favorites were eliminated via a Lap 67 wreck that involved 23 drivers, the opportunity presented itself for a wild card winner.
Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion would classify as such. The No. 6 car entered the race 31st on the playoff grid, unquestionably needing a win to make the postseason.
It was there for the taking. Keselowski led seven different times for 46 laps, and traded the lead back and forth in the waning laps with competitors Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Zane Smith and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. On older tires, Buescher faded through the field to jockey for ninth position at the checkered flag.
Keselowski was on an island to himself, attempting to hold off the Hendrick Motorsports teammates on the last lap. With a shove from Bowman, Elliott darted to the bottom groove entering Turn 1 and was able to clear Keselowski for the lead. Bowman battled the No. 6 car for the runner-up spot, with Keselowski rallying to get the position at the finish line. Elliott became the 12th different driver to win in 2025, snapping a 44-race winless streak while Keselowski is left thinking about how he could have played out the final lap differently.
Fresh after the defeat, Keselowski isn’t certain there was anything he could change.
“The 9 [car] just had the [No.] 48 behind him giving him a huge push and there was nothing I could do to cover that,” Keselowski said. “When we had our cars linked up at RFK, we could do the same thing. But we lost that and it was just kind of a two-on-one and I fought as hard as I could.
“They were able to work together really well and kind of double up on me at the end and there was nothing I could do.”
Keselowski is ecstatic about the effort of the No. 6 team. One week after a heartbreaking ninth-place finish at Pocono Raceway, the Jeremy Bullins-led team picked up its bootstraps and stepped up to the plate at a venue Keselowski is expected to excel at. For the better part of two months, Keselowski has found himself competing towards the front of the field more times than not, with solid finishes in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and additional top 10s at Michigan International Speedway and Pocono. But with an atrocious opening three months of the season, he’s trying to salvage the season after a putrid start.
The 36-time Cup Series winner stated that “every loss stings” but he doesn’t dwell on the circumstances. With Keselowski’s lacking results in 2025, he admits that he’s not even looking at the playoff picture.
“I don’t think about that,” Keselowski added. “I just want to win.”
With the regular season vanishing, three of the final eight races will be contested on road courses before a guaranteed fierce event at Daytona International Speedway to set the 16-driver playoff field. All four of those events could be classified as wild card races.
Thinking Keselowski can win at a road course might be a stretch. He’s winless in 50 career road course starts and doesn’t have a single top 10 in the last 17, dating back to Sonoma Raceway in 2022.